Seats and shelves are desired fixtures in showers, baths and the like for providing architectural decoration, a place for sitting, a foot rest or a horizontal surface to store bathing related articles. In constructing such fixtures, it is important to preserve the waterproofing of the bath or shower, provide an appealing finished product, and also ensure the fixture can support loading, such as, for example, when a person sits or uses the fixture as a foot rest.
One usual method of constructing these fixtures includes a site-built wood frame structure that is attached to the rough frame of a shower or tub wall and/or floor. The wood frame structure is then waterproofed with one of several methods and then reinforced with expanded metal, wire mesh or other means. A sub-base or mortar is applied to all of the exposed surface areas, and then tile is placed over the mortar by means of a suitable bonding agent, such as thinset. Although this provides an appealing finished look it is problematic and has many draw backs. First, the construction method is very labor intensive, time consuming and requires a degree of skill that most general construction labors do not have. Further, if the waterproofing is not done correctly or is compromised the construction is prone to failure due to water penetration. Water damage in this area can lead to extensive repair costs. Further yet, the wood frame is likely to shrink and the wood frame members are likely to shift overtime resulting in cracking of the tile and grout finish and damaging the waterproofing.
A second usual method of constructing these fixtures includes building a support structure of concrete blocks during either the rough-in of the bath or shower or after waterproofing the bath or shower construction. The concrete blocks are individually arranged to form a perimeter wall that is then filled with concrete or a mortar mix to form a top horizontal surface. The surface of the concrete blocks and top horizontal surface are prepared for the application of tile using the typical various methods. Although this method attempt to eliminate the shrinking and shifting of the wood members experienced by the first method, this method also has many drawbacks. In this regard, it is more labor intensive, results in a heavier construction, and requires additional skills even over the first method.
One attempt to provide a better construction method and device for constructing such fixtures in showers and baths is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,218 (“the '218 patent”), issued to Rompel on Aug. 6, 1996. The '218 patent describes a corrosion-resistant self-supported frame of a pre-form shape, to which a mortar substrate and ceramic tile is applied, in order to produce corner seats and trays.
While the pre-form of the '218 patent provides a ready made support structure for use in constructing corner seats and trays in showers or baths it requires the use of penetrating fasteners, such as, a threaded fastener to attach the pre-form to the shower or bath wall framing members, which requires penetrating the waterproofing of the shower or bath. Any penetration of the waterproofing can lead to water damage resulting in costly repairs. Additionally, the pre-form may not be capable of conforming to irregularities of the shower or bath walls. It is very common for abutting vertical walls in a building structure, such as, a bath or shower to not be perfectly square or plumb. The addition of surface tile can further add or exaggerate the wall irregularities. The pre-form of the '218 patent is constructed with the expectation of the walls being square and plumb. However, if this is not the case during installation, gaps can result between the pre-form and the walls or the pre-form can be damaged by over tightening of the penetrating fasteners in attempt to close the gaps, either of which is likely to result in failure. An additional possible drawback of the pre-form of the '218 patent, is the pre-form is designed to be elevated above the floor of the bath or shower and installed in a cantilever fashion. In some installations, it is desirable to have the seat extend down to the floor of the bath or shower, and the pre-form of the '218 is not capable of providing this.
An additional attempt to provide a better construction method and device for constructing such fixtures in showers and baths is provided by T. Clear Corp. in their PreFormed™ tile ready shower seat which is lightweight, does not require wood framing and its installation does not compromise the waterproofing of the shower or bath. However, T. Clear Corp. instructs the walls to which the seat is to be installed against must be square and plumb and you must not cut the seat or otherwise damage the exterior coating of the seat. These requirements makes utilization of the seat less practical as most walls are not square or plumb and the seat can not be cut to conform to the irregularities of the walls. Further, it is likely during the tiling process tools or tiles will be dropped, and in this event, if the tools or tile impact the seat this may damage the exterior coating requiring costly replacement of the seat.
The disclosed preformed structural support for use in the construction of seats for new and existing ceramic tile surfaces is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and other problems present in the art.